TroyD
08-18-2003, 04:21 PM
A buddy of mine recently purchased this amp and since he was going out of town for the weekend, he dropped it off for me to play with this weekend so I could get my tube jolies on.
If you are used to the size of Carver amps, this sucker is BIG and HEAVY and the cool factor is astronomical. Connections and so forth all seem to be first class. I'm not going into too much detail on the cosmetics and so forth as you can read about that on the CJ website or go look at one in person.
I was a little worried about it's 55wpc output in the cave as the DQ-10's are notoriously power hungry but I went with it anyway (I also have the LSi7's in the cave as well).
So, you may ask, how did it sound?
Well, I'll tell you, this is my first real dabbling with a tube amp for more than an hour or so. While I still don't feel that I know enough about it to give a thorough review, I do think I can point out a few things. The first thing that struck me is how wonderful it reproduced string intstruments. One of the first tracks I played was 10,000 Maniacs 'Thank You' and the opening riff, well, I've never heard it sound more natural. I played a few more demo tracks and was just stunned at how well it handled string instruments. Vocals were very natural sounding, again, I've heard Natalie Merchant on a few occaisons and the the MV-60 hooked up to the DQ-10's it sounded more like how I remember Natalie sounding than I've heard on any other rig that I can think of. If you are a fan of acoustical music, this is your amp. The lovely Wendi popped in Diana Krall and it was simply incredible. As far as vocals (particularly female) you would be hard pressed to find an amp that was so natural sounding, albeit just a tad forward (which isn't a bad thing). Van Morrisons vocals on 'Crazy Love' and 'It Stoned Me' an appropriately nasal quality, without sounding muddy or too laid back.
The other thing that I find that it did extremely well was tame the sometimes edgy highs of the DQ-10. It put a nice smooth edge on and rolled off, IMO, fairly quickly but extremely smooth. One of the Telarc discs that I have (can't remember which one, or what the piece was and I'm too lazy to find it and look it up) has a passage that has a lot of piccolos in it. Sounded light and airy without a trace of harshness.
Now, what DIDN'T it do well? Tough to say, as the shortcomings I noticed I don't know how much is the amp itself or the amp being overtasked. However, I ran through some pretty demanding pieces (IE William Tell Overature etc) and at normal listening levels, it seemed to push the DQ-10's without complaint (I didn't abuse it though as it's not my amp). I found that the bass was pretty sloppy actually. Particularly the kettle drums in the WTO were sloppy and very faint. If you are a bass freak, this is NOT your amp. I'm not a bass freak so I found it mildly annoying but not a deal breaker.
In complex passages the soundstage tends to compress significantly. Now, this could be the amps simply running out of steam. With realtively uncomplicated pieces, ie. 'Ship of Fools' by Robert Plant, the soundstage is a mile wide and just as deep. Put in Rippington's 'Live in LA' disc which gets very busy, and there is a very distinct constricting of the soundstage. I've never had this happen with my Carver amps. This was the most distracting thing about the amp.
All in all, it's a very engaging amp, I sat and listened to it for, oh, 4 hrs non stop at one point without a trace of listener fatigue. Usually, I can't do that. I just kept spinning disc after disc. It's sound is 180 degrees from the Carver which is very clean, almost clinical sounding (which I like very much) and strong top to bottom whereas the CJ is very lush and mellow (albeit less detailed). Now as to which I would choose if I had to (than God I don't), it would be almost a wash. I really don't know (cost no object) how I'd go to be honest which I think is a real tribute to the Carver amps.
Oh, associated equipment:
AMC CD8b
Adcom SLC-505 passive pre
Dahlquist DQ-10's / LSi7's (most listening done on the DQ's)
Signal Cable IC's
AR wire
Just my .02
BDT
If you are used to the size of Carver amps, this sucker is BIG and HEAVY and the cool factor is astronomical. Connections and so forth all seem to be first class. I'm not going into too much detail on the cosmetics and so forth as you can read about that on the CJ website or go look at one in person.
I was a little worried about it's 55wpc output in the cave as the DQ-10's are notoriously power hungry but I went with it anyway (I also have the LSi7's in the cave as well).
So, you may ask, how did it sound?
Well, I'll tell you, this is my first real dabbling with a tube amp for more than an hour or so. While I still don't feel that I know enough about it to give a thorough review, I do think I can point out a few things. The first thing that struck me is how wonderful it reproduced string intstruments. One of the first tracks I played was 10,000 Maniacs 'Thank You' and the opening riff, well, I've never heard it sound more natural. I played a few more demo tracks and was just stunned at how well it handled string instruments. Vocals were very natural sounding, again, I've heard Natalie Merchant on a few occaisons and the the MV-60 hooked up to the DQ-10's it sounded more like how I remember Natalie sounding than I've heard on any other rig that I can think of. If you are a fan of acoustical music, this is your amp. The lovely Wendi popped in Diana Krall and it was simply incredible. As far as vocals (particularly female) you would be hard pressed to find an amp that was so natural sounding, albeit just a tad forward (which isn't a bad thing). Van Morrisons vocals on 'Crazy Love' and 'It Stoned Me' an appropriately nasal quality, without sounding muddy or too laid back.
The other thing that I find that it did extremely well was tame the sometimes edgy highs of the DQ-10. It put a nice smooth edge on and rolled off, IMO, fairly quickly but extremely smooth. One of the Telarc discs that I have (can't remember which one, or what the piece was and I'm too lazy to find it and look it up) has a passage that has a lot of piccolos in it. Sounded light and airy without a trace of harshness.
Now, what DIDN'T it do well? Tough to say, as the shortcomings I noticed I don't know how much is the amp itself or the amp being overtasked. However, I ran through some pretty demanding pieces (IE William Tell Overature etc) and at normal listening levels, it seemed to push the DQ-10's without complaint (I didn't abuse it though as it's not my amp). I found that the bass was pretty sloppy actually. Particularly the kettle drums in the WTO were sloppy and very faint. If you are a bass freak, this is NOT your amp. I'm not a bass freak so I found it mildly annoying but not a deal breaker.
In complex passages the soundstage tends to compress significantly. Now, this could be the amps simply running out of steam. With realtively uncomplicated pieces, ie. 'Ship of Fools' by Robert Plant, the soundstage is a mile wide and just as deep. Put in Rippington's 'Live in LA' disc which gets very busy, and there is a very distinct constricting of the soundstage. I've never had this happen with my Carver amps. This was the most distracting thing about the amp.
All in all, it's a very engaging amp, I sat and listened to it for, oh, 4 hrs non stop at one point without a trace of listener fatigue. Usually, I can't do that. I just kept spinning disc after disc. It's sound is 180 degrees from the Carver which is very clean, almost clinical sounding (which I like very much) and strong top to bottom whereas the CJ is very lush and mellow (albeit less detailed). Now as to which I would choose if I had to (than God I don't), it would be almost a wash. I really don't know (cost no object) how I'd go to be honest which I think is a real tribute to the Carver amps.
Oh, associated equipment:
AMC CD8b
Adcom SLC-505 passive pre
Dahlquist DQ-10's / LSi7's (most listening done on the DQ's)
Signal Cable IC's
AR wire
Just my .02
BDT